Matt Schofield: Blues Man With No Master Plan

I use a 50-watt Two-Rock amp based on
their Classic Reverb model, but it’s tweaked
up for me. They [Two-Rock] changed the
midrange voicing a bit. It has two rectifiers,
so it’s punchy like a solid-state amp, but
feels nice. It doesn’t get all mashy and saggy
like amps with a tube rectifier.

You’ve mentioned in the past that a
blackface Fender is the tonal ballpark for
you. Why not just use one?

I do use a Super Reverb, but things have
evolved a lot more than that. The Two-
Rock reminds me of my blackface Fender in
that it does everything I like but it’s much
bigger, fatter, and more reliable. It never
breaks down. With the 4x10 cab that they
make for me, it’s kind of like a giant-sounding
Super Reverb—but with that midrange
that the Two-Rocks get, as well.

What else can you tell us about your
Two-Rock?

It’s a single-channel amp, and I use it for
the clean sound and then get the dirt from
my pedals. But I totally rely on the tone of
the amp in the first place—it’s not like I’m
using a lot of gain on the pedals. It has a
bunch of other switches and functions that
I never use—like the FET boost channel
and all the switches on the back that I never
know how to set—but they’ve been taken
off or disconnected.

I understand that you’ve also recently
checked out some Bludotone amps.

Simon looks after one for Larry Carlton
in the UK—Larry keeps them all over the
world—so I got to use Larry’s for a few
shows. It’s really cool, but definitely more of
that Dumble thing, and I’ve gone back to
using a single-channel clean amp.

So now, even if you had access to an
actual Dumble, you’d still be using the
Two-Rock?

Yeah. With the latest stuff Two-Rock has
been putting out, I’m, like, totally done
with gear. I’ve got the Two-Rock and the
4x10 cab with the Eminence Ragin Cajuns,
and they work every night—they never
blow up. And I’ve got my two pedals—the
Klon [Centaur] and the Mad Professor
Deep Blue delay. I’m not even looking for
gear anymore.

Is there any other gear you’re really
ecstatic about?

I have my own signature set of Curt
Mangan nickel-wound stings, and they’re
the best strings ever for me. They sound
great, and I haven’t broken a single string
since I started using them. I’ve even been
able to go back to using vintage-style steel
saddles on my guitars, which I much prefer
the tone of over graphite “string-savers.”

New York City native Joe Charupakorn is a guitarist, author, and editor. He has interviewed the world’s biggest guitar icons including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Carlos Santana, Neal Schon, and Dave Davies, among many others, for Premier Guitar. Additionally, he has written over 20 instructional books for Hal Leonard Corporation. His books are available worldwide and have been translated into many languages. Visit him on the web at joecharupakorn.com.

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